Mio Shinkawa and the Doki-Doki Meet-Cute

A cool wind danced its way along the street, sampling flowers along the way and blending them into a pure spring scent. As it passed her, Mio Shinkawa paused briefly, caught it, and took it in. It felt like the freshest air she'd ever had. She smiled and resumed her walk. On her first commute to Hasuba Academy, the weather was warm, the breeze cool, and the sky a bold and brilliant blue that she thought matched her perfectly.

She couldn't have planned it better.

There weren't supposed to be many students living as far away from the school as she was, but as she rounded the next corner she spied a figure heading in the same direction, wearing what seemed from the back to be the men's equivalent of her uniform. Curious, she studied the boy as she walked behind him. He must have been new to the town as well, as he kept turning his head to study the buildings and signs on the route like he was terrified of getting lost. Whatever the case, it gave Mio a better look at him. The boy was on the taller side, with short, neatly styled hair and a concentrated expression that added an edge to his otherwise rather childish features. He walked somewhat haltingly, like he had to constantly recalibrate his posture every couple of steps. All in all, he gave her the impression of a kid attending his first formal event, trying very hard to look "handsome" instead of "cute".

Admittedly, this judgment might have been biased by the gigantic burr stuck to the back of his uniform. Set against the boy's serious, academic demeanor, it was about as distracting as a "Kick me" sign. After the tenth or eleventh time she caught her eyes darting to it, Mio decided she'd do them both a favor and discreetly pick it off. She tried to catch up to the other student, but her short frame made this difficult, and before she realized it she was practically sprinting after him.

Closer...

Closer...

Almost there, and... wait, why'd he-

CRASH!

Mio opened her eyes to see the boy looking at her quizzically. When she met his eyes, they lit up with realization, and he quickly put out his hand to offer support. As she took it, Mio gave a small laugh, hoping to retake control of the situation. "Sorry about that," she said sheepishly. "You had a burr on your back, and it was, uh, bugging me, is all."

"Oh. Well, thanks!" said the boy. Instinctively, he felt around behind him, shortly before he made a small yelp of surprise.

"Yeah, I didn't think I got it."

"I see." The boy tried to toss the burr away with a smile, but it took a few attempts before the thing finally stopped sticking. "Well... thanks for trying?" He sounded genuine, but still he turned to go. Before she had time to think, Mio shot her hand out and grabbed him, almost falling over a second time in the process. While he turned around, she took the time to compose herself and re-ready the bright smile she'd started the day with.

"I'm Mio Shinkawa. Pleased to meet you!"

The boy bowed his head a little in response. "Hiroshi Nakano. Pleased to meet you."

Mio glanced pointedly at the pin on Hiroshi's lapel. "You're a second-year? Cool! Do you think you could show me around the place later?"

"Ah, sorry! I just moved here, so everything's new to me too."

"Darn." Mio started walking again, setting a leisurely pace for the two of them. "Well, I hope you're settling in okay."

"Well enough. The school's been... surprisingly accommodating."

"Oh, are you one of the scholarship students?" Mio's eyes started to sparkle. "You must be, like, crazy talented."

"I guess?" Hiroshi cast his eyes downward and put a hand against his head. "Still seems like they went to some pretty crazy lengths for me, though. It's honestly kinda nerve-wracking."

"Don't sweat it too much. If they spent that kind of money on you, they know you're worth it." Mio shrugged. "And hey, even if they're wrong it's not like they can take it back."

That got a weak laugh out of Hiroshi. "That's one way to look at it," he said. "I guess it's kind of pathetic to complain about good fortune like that, huh?"

Mio dismissed the comment with a wave. They walked in silence for a few moments before Hiroshi spoke up again.

"You know, now that I think about it..." He stopped and looked up at the sky, his eyes beginning to cloud over. "Now that I think about it, I don't even remember applying for that scholarsh... rgh!"

Mio abruptly stopped and turned around to see the other student collapsed against a wall, clutching his head. "Are you alright?" she asked in a panic. "What happened?"

"No... idea." Hiroshi's eyes were unfocused, his breathing shallow. "Headache just... out of nowhere."

"Hold on." Before he could protest, Mio guided Hiroshi to the ground and rested his head on her lap. Within moments, she'd untied the ascot from her uniform and folded it up. She swung her backpack around to her side, took her water bottle out, and wetted the cloth before applying it to the boy's head. "You're probably just dehydrated," she explained as she began to rummage through her backpack. "I'm pretty sure I've got something in here for that. Let's see here... bandages, no. Antacids, no. Tweezers, no. Tourniquet... hopefully no. Ah, here we go." She pulled out a small packet, opened it, and fed the contents to Hiroshi. "Salt tablet. Should do the job. If it doesn't, I can dig around again for some aspirin. And- oh! Of course!" She grabbed her water bottle again and guided it to his mouth, but the awkward angle caused a fair amount to spill over his face and onto her skirt.

Hiroshi sat up, coughing, before taking another swig. "Huh, I'm already starting to feel better. I guess you know your stuff." He turned around to hand the bottle back and paused.

"Oh," he said, looking at Mio's slightly disheveled neckline. Looks like he finally noticed what he's holding to his head, she thought.

"Oh," he continued, looking at her skirt. Looks like he noticed where his head's been. And now for...

"OH," he finished, with a second look at the water bottle he'd just been drinking from. Bingo.

Mio put her things away and got up. Hiroshi looked away while she cleaned up as best she could. "Sorry about all that," he said sheepishly. "I really owe you one, huh?"

Mio rapidly waved her hands in a flustered dismissal. "No, no, not at all! If anything, I should feel guilty for embarrassing you like that! It's just..." She paused, nervously tapping her fingers together. "For a minute there, you... reminded me a bit of... my brother."

"Eh?"

"He used to get himself hurt all the time. Never learned how to patch himself up, so I got used to doing it for him. That's why I carry all that crap."

"I was starting to wonder about that."

"Anyway, yeah. It feels good to make use of it, though, so I don't mind. Especially now that I'm good at it! With my brother, I just got nothing but complaints, and I'd just have to go, 'I'm only doing this because you can't take care of yourself!' Utterly useless, that guy, I swear."

Hiroshi looked at her with a vaguely uncomfortable smile.

"N-not that you reminded me of that part! Ha ha! You just, uh, l-look like him. A bit."

Hiroshi laughed gently. Mio followed, sighing with relief at the same time. "Well, I think we've wasted enough time here," the boy said as he stood up. "Don't want to be late on the first day." He turned away from Mio as he prepared to go, and a sly smile crept along her face.

Now for the clincher.

"Right," she replied. "Lead the way, o..." She trailed off.

Onii-chan. One word. Come on.

"O..." Behind her smirk, her teeth started to grind.

Swallow your pride, girl. You've done worse.

"O..." Ahead of her, Hiroshi had already stopped.

Come on! Soon he'll be out of here and it'll be like this never happened.

But the boy was already turning around. In an instant, the bright and sparkly smile had returned to Mio's face. "O... oh no!" She exclaimed as she absent-mindedly rubbed the back of her head. "I totally forgot my planner at home! Good thing I looked in my pack just now, huh? Go on without me, N-nakano-san."

She dashed away, leaving Hiroshi standing with a response half-formed in his mouth.

⬘⬘⬘

"I'm out. I can't do this."

Melusine Asmodea staggered out of her projection room, her cyan face so drawn it looked like she'd just worked a twelve-hour shift as opposed to a twelve-minute one. She could still feel the dampness of Mio's soggy ascot on her chest, and she tugged repeatedly on her blouse as she tried to ward it off. Hopefully it would dry before she had to head back up.

"Aw, cheer up, Mel," Cass called from the couch. "I'd say that was an A+ showing. Wouldn't you, Mara?"

"Yes, you made quite an impression."

Melusine glanced at her two sisters. Cassilda was lounging in the center of the couch, her head lolled back so she could smirk at Mel as she passed. To the right, Mara sat composed in an armchair, her pensive gaze never leaving the monitors in front of them. It could have just been the exhaustion, but Mel couldn't help but feel a hint of condescension coming from the two of them. "Whatever," she responded. "I'm going on break. If you see Hester, tell her-"

"Wait," rang a voice from the end of the hall. Mel grimaced.

A moment later, Hester Asmodea, Mel's last sister and de facto boss, rounded the corner. Though it was just the four of them, she strode down the hall with a confidence and authority that could have intimidated a queen.

Mel briefly considered making a dash for the break room, but she didn't like her odds. "What?" she called to her sister.

"You just got back from our first field test of the Locus and first contact with the target," said Hester, clapping a scarlet hand on Mel's shoulder to keep her still. "Don't think you can get away without some kind of a debrief."

"Fine," Mel sighed. She straightened up and met Hester's gaze. Best to get it over with quickly, she thought. "Astral projection system is fully operational. The vessel Mio Shinkawa has acute sight, hearing, touch, and smell, and seems to-"

"Taste?" Hester interrupted.

"I- I don't know, I didn't check! What did you want me to do, eat grass?"

"Just being thorough."

"Shoulda tried the toast-in-your-mouth bit," Cass chimed in.

"Anyway," Mel continued, "Subject Hiroshi Nakano seems fully unaware of his situation. Mio Shinkawa was indistinguishable from a normal human, and the Shades haven't attracted any notice."

At that, Hester glanced at the monitors. Mel followed suit. On the central monitor, a camera tracked Hiroshi as he continued his walk alone. There were a few Shades on the screen as well; most milled about in and around the houses, but one walked in the same direction as Hiroshi, with a khaki-colored midsection not dissimilar to the boy's uniform. As intended, they all kept their distance in a perfectly naturalistic manner.

"I did notice one thing," Mara cut in as she languidly turned to face the two of them. "That headache the child had at the end. It was right after you asked him how he got here. I wouldn't have expected the dissonance to hit this hard this early."

Defensive, Melusine replied, "Don't look at me. I cleared the script with all of you." She jabbed a finger at Hester. "You said it'd be fine!"

"And it is fine," said Hester without missing a beat. "We caused a small amount of damage, but the enchantment is still holding strong. And the early phase is when we should expect the most trouble. After a few days, he'll adjust to life in Yumenada, and his mind will rationalize any contradictions all on its own."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on," Mel interjected. "A few days? I thought this was supposed to be an improvement over regular seduction. Just how long do you expect this to take?"

"I'm sorry to say, dear sister, but if this works at all it will be an improvement," Hester answered. "Desperate times, you know. Besides, I've been queueing up tours for the Locus. A lot of demons are eager to see what the latest advancements in illusion magic look like."

Mel stared at her like she'd just grown a second pair of horns. "No," she said. "No no no no no. I am not going to play the cute little sister for several days, and I am sure as hell not going to do it for an audience."

"Why not? You're clearly good at it."

"It's degrading. I'm an intellectual. A scholar. A professional. Not... whatever this is." Mel took out the planner on which her character notes were written and waved it around to embellish her point. "We already stranded him here, he can't avoid us. That was the hard part. Why can't we just pick the personas we want, like usual?"

"Like I said, a lot of demons are watching us for this - including higher-ups. We have to give this 100%, and that means replicating the fantasy as completely as possible." Hester gestured towards the bookshelf in the break room. "You've read the reference material, you know the archetypes. And since manufacturing a childhood friend would take way too much brainwashing, we have to lean on what we've got even more. Plus, without any intel on the subject, it's best to have a wide range of personalities on the table. He could be into anything."

"If he was into this, we wouldn't even have a job to do," Mel remarked. "He'd already be slated for Hell. And even if we did need a little sister type, why does it have to be me?"

"None of us would be any better at it. Of course we'd give our most challenging role to our best performer." Hester's tone as she spoke was so saccharine, Mel worried it might attract the Lord of Flies himself. "Besides," she added, "you are the youngest."

"You know, that fact kind of loses its edge after a thousand years."

Hester shrugged. "Back on track: what's your read on the subject?"

"Not much to go on yet. Just seems... normal."

"Progress?"

"He knows my name. The headache was a bit of a... well, headache to deal with, but I was able to spin it into some physical contact, plus a potential favor."

"An an indirect kiss, to boot," Mara added.

"Well, technically I never drank from that bottle myself," Mel corrected. "But it's not like he knows that."

"And tripping into him like that at the start?" Cass piped up. "Masterful. Wish I'd thought of it."

"That... was a genuine accident," Mel explained with a grimace. "Turns out it's pretty hard to run in a body that's twelve centimeters shorter than you're used to."

"Noted," said Hester as she jotted something down in her notebook.

"Is that all?" Mel asked. "I really need that break. Starting to get a headache myself."

"Of course," the older sister replied. "Mara, I believe you're up next?"

"Mm," came the reply from the recliner.

"Splendid. You'll want to head up soon. It looks like the subject is almost at the gate."

With Hester's attention diverted, Melusine turned and entered the break room. "Good luck," she called to Mara with a half-hearted wave. Then she ducked into an alcove and out of sight.

This is going to be the worst week of my life, she thought.